Everyone is ‘raving’ about Pondlife!!!

The first event of the SWA series has set a bench mark for the series this year. Over the weekend of 23^rd-25^th Novemeber, over 150 student windsurfers made their way up to Nottingham for Pondlife IV, the first core event in the 2007/8 SWA series.

The forecast suggested that conditions were to be windier on the Saturday so the decision was made to run freestyle on the Saturday and racing on the Sunday. The freestyle fleet were fired up as conditons were perfect for 5.0m-5.8m and the competion strong. The standard was higher than ever with a range of new-skool moves being performed early in the heats. The final came down to a showdown between Southampton’s Seb Graham and Imperial College’s Chris Beng, fighting it out for top place. The final was extremely close but the judges vote put Seb infront by half a point with Chris coming 2nd and Steph Hilder (Southampton) taking 3^rd place. The ladies also put in a good effort with Sarah Bibby (Southampton) showing she has what it takes in the stronger winds to beat Liss Earle (Exeter) into first.

The rest of the day was filled with some beginners tuition and lots of free sailing with demo kit kindly provided by Boardwise and Ultrasport. Saturday was finished of at the Party back in Nottingham. The “New Rave’ themed party rocked with plenty of flourescent colours and glow in the dark paint.

Sunday was all about the racing. Fleets in all three divisions braved another cold day and rigged up ready to hit the water and open the SWA Club Vass Race Series. Planing conditions put pressure on the advanced fleet and this time it was the other Graham Brother’s time to shine. Al Graham showed good technique, fitness and determination in the final to accelrate away in the final. Cardiff also showed they have what it takes with James Goody coming 2^nd in the advanced fleet and highest place lady Sarah Gaskell coming 8^th.

Thanks to SWA sponsors Club Vass, Boardseeker.com, Naish, RRD/EZZY, Boardwise, Starboard/Tushingham, Boohai, Bic sport, F2 and Turfdog. Thanks also to Dave Nobles and Run and Jump for their support for the event.